A care home has been put in special measures after telling a resident she would wake people by using her call bell.

Glendale Residential Care Home, in Felsted, was given the lowest rating of inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after it made a serious number of failings, with one resident describing staff as nasty.

Inspectors found a resident sleeping in a duvet with brown stains and had to deal with a confrontational manager during the inspection last month.

The report said: “We found within the provider's log of complaints and recorded as a complaint a safeguarding incident where it was alleged a member of staff physically and verbally abused a person using the service.

“The registered manager had investigated this incident but had failed to report this in the first instance to the police or local safeguarding authority for their investigation as required.

“Despite repeated efforts to explain what we were doing as the inspection team and why… there were occasions when they and a representative of the registered manager did not engage positively in the process of the inspection and became confrontational.”

Inspectors were told residents were not allowed to go outside because it is not safe for people with dementia and the registered manager's response to issues found by inspectors was to blame other people.

Residents had also not been involved in the planning of menus, with one person describing her dinner as disgusting, before being given an alternative.

The report added: “The provider's website stated that it caters for people who are living with dementia.

“However, there were no memory boxes or pictures selected by people to help them easily identify their own rooms for the people we observed who became disorientated.

“Care plans were not always written in a caring, compassionate manner.

“There were widespread serious shortfalls in the service provided to people which meant that their immediate needs, safety and wellbeing did not benefit from a caring culture.”

The home will be inspected again in six months.

The manager did not respond to a request for comment.